Carbon and other residue from gunpowder and from firearm discharge reactions accumulate on firearm components over time, with deleterious effects on cleanliness, performance, and longevity of the firearm. Firearm discharge residue accumulates on various firearm components that require disassembly to access and clean. Even then, carbon and other discharge residue tends to be tenuous and difficult to remove. Some firearm components typically need to be scraped with a hard scraping tool to have discharge residue effectively removed, but this must be done without scratching or damaging the firearm components themselves. Various firearm components also have complex shapes that make cleaning discharge residue effectively a challenge. For example, the bolt and bolt carrier of a 5.56 or 7.62 cartridge rifle have complicated shapes, such as the concave shape of the nose of the bolt, that have proven to be persistently difficult to clean effectively. A number of specialized scraping tools have been introduced to clean firearm components, but have had substantial shortcomings.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.